Waves_On_Waves delivers another song of regret and inverted tragedy on “Messed up and Fell in Love.” With collaborators Crimewave and Death By Algorithm the producer and songwriter establish a driving beat with percussive bass synth and ghostly guitar to frame vocals that might be described as passionate but desolated. The beat bounces lending the synthwave song the aspect of a dance track perfect for a DJ night catering to fans of synthwave or darkwave. In moments the song is reminiscent of something one might hear on a Big Black Delta record with the dense but dynamic rhythm and understated melodrama. The lyrics seem to be from the perspective of someone who has come to romanticize their own misery, wearing his sense of melancholic detachment like an imagined barrier to getting hurt. But he meets someone who pulls him out of that adopted identity for a moment and thus the chorus and title, “Messed up and fell in love.” When you cultivate an aspect of your personality so meticulously and seemingly thoroughly it can feel like a mistake to allow yourself feel strongly and to feel a connection with someone against what you think of as your will. But in the song we hear a sense of resignation and even acceptance. The line “I’m defined by loss” becomes prophetic in the end because our narrator loses the veneer of sanguine cool at least to himself as well as the losses that have been the touchstones of his life and yet it seems this loss is one much more desirable. Listen to “Messed up and Fell in Love” by Waves_On_Waves on Spotify and follow the project at the links below. Look for the forthcoming collaborative album Coffin Kids due out in 2024.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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